Three men have given harrowing accounts of how they bravely tackled a terrorist to the ground using a fire extinguisher and a narwhal tusk.
Convicted terrorist Usman Khan stabbed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, to death and injured three others when he went on a knife rampage lasting around five minutes at a prisoner rehabilitation event at Fishmongers’ Hall in November 2019.
Khan, 28, who was armed with two knives and wore a fake suicide vest, was tackled by members of the public and then shot dead by police when he ran out onto London Bridge.
A jury inquest into the deaths of Mr Merritt and Ms Jones, both Cambridge University graduates, began on April 12 at the Guildhall in central London.
At Wednesday's (April 21) proceedings, three men spoke about how they chased the attacker onto the street outside and restrained him until armed police arrived.
The inquest previously heard how Khan, who had two knives strapped into his hands, launched his attack in the men's toilets of Fishmonger's Hall at around 1.56pm, when he stabbed Mr Merritt multiple times causing a fatal wound to his chest.
After making his way to the main reception area, Khan was confronted by several people who took items from the walls, including an ornamental pike and narwhal tusks, to try and defend themselves and disarm him.
Minutes later Khan ran out onto London Bridge pursued by John Crilly, Steven Gallant and Darryn Frost.
Mr Crilly, used a fire extinguisher to drench Khan in foam, while Mr Frost used a narwhal tusk to knock him off balance, allowing the third man to tackle him to the ground.
Giving evidence, inmate Mr Gallant said he had “whacked” Khan with a narwhal tusk but was empty-handed by the time he got to the bridge.
“I grabbed him, tried to swing him round," he told the inquest.
"He was very quick, a lot of movement going on, somehow I managed to grab him to the floor.
“I had done a little bit of wrestling so I knew how to pin people to the floor.”
Mr Gallant said he was told by a group of bystanders to "give him a kicking" but refused as it would "make it more difficult".
He said he gave Khan “a couple of uppercuts to the face” to “stun him a little bit” after the attacker tried to get up from the floor.
Mr Crilly, who appeared close to tears as he recalled events leading to the standoff, said he had tackled Khan with a lectern, an ornamental chair and a fire extinguisher, driving him out of the building.
He described how he was "running round trying to distract him" and attempted to call his bluff by asking: "Is that supposed to be a suicide belt?"
Mr Crilly told the inquest jury that he hit Khan, who was shouting “Allahu Akhbar”, over the head with the fire extinguisher he had grabbed.
He also used it to spray foam at the attacker but said he backed off again when Khan "came running through the foam with the knives".
Once Khan had been chased onto the street, Mr Crilly, who was helping to restrain him, said police arrived and told him to move away.
“I was telling them to shoot the b*****d," Mr Crilly said. “I was telling them ‘he’s just killed people, he’s got a bomb just shoot him’.”
Mr Frost, a prison and probation service communications manager, tearfully told the inquest that he did not want Khan to "have the satisfaction" of killing himself.
He told the inquest he was worried Khan, who had a fake suicide belt strapped to him, might set off a bomb as he had threatened to.
“I didn’t want him to be shot. His statement that he was waiting for the police meant he wanted to die,” he said.
“I saw the chaos he had caused in the hall – I didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of his choice when he had taken that away from others.”
He explained to the jury that he had continued to hold Khan down after police arrived at the scene.
“I said: ‘I’ve got his hands, he can’t kill anyone else, I won’t let him kill anyone else'," he said.
He told jurors: “There was a struggle for a while and when Khan saw I wasn’t releasing him he seemed to relax a little.
“He looked up at the officer and very gently said: ‘I’ve got a bomb, I’ve got a bomb.’
“The police shouted: ‘He’s got a bomb’. He seemed so distressed, his voice broke.”
Mr Frost said he then moved back at which point he heard “three cracks and an echo”.
“I thought then that everyone was dead in the near vicinity, including the police I was trying to protect,” he told the inquest.
When he looked over at the attacker, he said he realised that a bomb had not gone off - but that Khan had been shot by police.
Lawyers for the victims’ families and Coroner Mark Lucraft QC thanked the three witnesses for their acts of bravery.
Earlier this week, the inquest heard from witnesses who tried to save Ms Jones' life after Khan stabbed her in the neck.
Former HMP Grendon inmate Gareth Evans said he held her in his arms and told her “she was loved and she was beautiful” as she lay dying.
Khan had earlier been seen chatting to her at the Learning Together anniversary event, the inquest heard.
The inquest into the deaths of Mr Merritt and Ms Jones continues.
It is expected to last for several weeks and will be followed by a separate jury inquest into the death of Khan.
